16 year old with heart attack and single mom of 6
Donation protected
My name is Heather Lamborn, I am a single Mom of 6 kids, 4 whom are still under 18. On January 6, my 16 year old son, Giovanni, had a heart attack due to a birth defect we were unaware of, called WPW (Wolff-Parkinson-White). My 14 year old son Mossimo was with him when it happened, and being a mile away, he called me first. I was able to get home to start CPR just as Gio stopped breathing, and Mossimo was on the phone with 911. Eight fire fighter/ paramedics and 3 deputies responded and worked hard on him for about 35 min. We were told he was shocked 10 times, intubated 3 times (due to aspirated vomit), and had aggressive CPR the whole time. He was transferred to the local hospital while they waited for the helicopter to take him to Johns Hopkins All Children’s in St. Pete. He remained there 19 days, lost his vision for a time, had trouble processing information, and was trying to relearn how to care for himself. Gio had multiple daily tests, and therapies. As he started to recover, the cardiologist was able to schedule his ablation on his heart to “cure” the WPW. In some kind of miracle, his MRIs showed no damage to his brain, although at first there was swelling, it is gone now. He is having issues with processing information and short term and some long term memory loss, currently being labeled as a TBI, but we pray that eventually he will regain these things. He has not yet returned to school, and is struggling to catch up online.
The medical bills are nearing $1 million dollars. While we do have insurance, it does not cover everything.
When Gio and I returned home from the hospital, a cardiology check up with the other 3 younger kids discovered that my 12 year old son Angelo also had WPW. Angelo had an ablation at the end of February. His cardiologist said his WPW was as “significant” as Gio’s and we were grateful it was discovered and fixed.
I have a great best friend Cherie, who happened to be in Florida on vacation, and instead helped my oldest son Hudson take care of my home and three younger kids while I was at the hospital. My family has been very supportive during this time and we are grateful for them.
This whole experience has been a very rough road. I sprained both ankles in November of 2018, at work, and while it has been a blessing to be available to take Gio to therapies and help him in his recovery, it’s been financially devastating. I have paid out of pocket for therapies to try to heal the tendons in my ankles, but recovery is painfully slow.
My job involves hours of standing and unloading pallets, so I cannot return to work until I am healed. It has been 9 months now. Workman’s compensation is not enough for our family to live on, so I have been using credit cards for daily living expenses. Between lost income and expenses incurred to try to recover, I have lost about $15k.
In February we also discovered the plumbing in our home needs to be replaced, and that is a cost of around $10k. In Florida the plumbing goes bad under the house due to cast iron and sand being a poor combination. It tends to go bad around 50 to 60 years, and my home is 59 years old. My insurance does not cover this expense.
It’s very difficult for me to ask for help and to be this vulnerable about our situation. I am grateful to all who may donate and appreciate prayers and well wishes as well.
The medical bills are nearing $1 million dollars. While we do have insurance, it does not cover everything.
When Gio and I returned home from the hospital, a cardiology check up with the other 3 younger kids discovered that my 12 year old son Angelo also had WPW. Angelo had an ablation at the end of February. His cardiologist said his WPW was as “significant” as Gio’s and we were grateful it was discovered and fixed.
I have a great best friend Cherie, who happened to be in Florida on vacation, and instead helped my oldest son Hudson take care of my home and three younger kids while I was at the hospital. My family has been very supportive during this time and we are grateful for them.
This whole experience has been a very rough road. I sprained both ankles in November of 2018, at work, and while it has been a blessing to be available to take Gio to therapies and help him in his recovery, it’s been financially devastating. I have paid out of pocket for therapies to try to heal the tendons in my ankles, but recovery is painfully slow.
My job involves hours of standing and unloading pallets, so I cannot return to work until I am healed. It has been 9 months now. Workman’s compensation is not enough for our family to live on, so I have been using credit cards for daily living expenses. Between lost income and expenses incurred to try to recover, I have lost about $15k.
In February we also discovered the plumbing in our home needs to be replaced, and that is a cost of around $10k. In Florida the plumbing goes bad under the house due to cast iron and sand being a poor combination. It tends to go bad around 50 to 60 years, and my home is 59 years old. My insurance does not cover this expense.
It’s very difficult for me to ask for help and to be this vulnerable about our situation. I am grateful to all who may donate and appreciate prayers and well wishes as well.
Organizer
Heather Lamborn
Organizer
Sarasota, FL